® Sponsored by Enterprise Access to Point Cloud Data 95th OGC Technical Committee Boulder, Colorado USA 1 June 2015 Keith Ryden Esri Software Development

OGC ® Point Cloud Data Multi-dimensional Scientific data LiDAR Data Elevation Data Seismic Data Bathymetric Data Meteorological Data Fixed/Mobile consumer sensors (IoT) It’s not just LiDAR

OGC ® There’s Lots of it… Point Cloud data is typically Big Data –LiDAR data in a collection of LAS datasets are one example –It’s big if you don’t want to move it…. –Bring the processing to the data …. The amount of data is so large that repeated conversion, import, transport, etc., can be painful

OGC ® Enterprise Imagery and Point Cloud Management – Access through Services MSI/HSl LIDAR EO CIR FMV Multiple Sensors & Formats OGC Services WCS, WMS, WPS, WCPS, etc Data Formats KML, LAS, GML Store it Once, Use it Many Times

OGC ® Point Cloud Services Enterprise Point Cloud data services need to support: –Standardized Service Interfaces –Overlapping collections –Collections over time –Arbitrary query areas –High performance access –Efficient transfer format/schema –Efficient storage, backup, recovery –Elastic deployment

OGC ® LAS Data The LAS format is a data transfer/exchange format –Well understood, and widely supported –Not originally designed for direct use/exploitation Issues when accessed directly include –Simple format (a plus) but becomes an I/O bottleneck –Lack of spatial index –Lack of dataset statistics –Uncompressed

OGC ® Improving LAS Data Access Exploitation of LAS data can be improved by importing the LAS exchange format into a local cache: –Building statistics –Building a spatial index –Rearranging point records for efficient localized access –Compressing blocks of contiguous records These concepts could also be considered for a future update to the LAS data format

OGC ® Spatial Index Spatial indexing for fast access to data by extent/location. There are Several indexing possibilities Grids Quad Trees RTrees

OGC ® Spatial distribution of points Physical location in file Rearranging Point Records

OGC ® Spatial distribution of points Physical location in file Rearranging Point Records

OGC ® Compress Blocks of Point Records Spatial distribution of points

OGC ® Compress Blocks of Point Records Spatial distribution of points

OGC ® Summary Point Cloud data is Big Data… –Access via well defined web services –OGC is well positioned to influence these service specifications The LAS data format is part of the picture –An exchange format for LiDAR and similar data –Can be optimized for exploitation